Tamron 70-200 VC USD

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fhibbs12

Senior Member
THIS IS MY EDITED RANT LOL Move to second post for me to make a little more sense lol

Well I got it and it has me banging my head against the wall to the point that it might be going back.

My cons are - The VC in this lens does not seem nearly as good as my Tamron 70-300. There is a slight whine when focus goes from min distance to infinity but not the other way around. This has me concerned..

However the back breaker is my focus issues...... What is a good way to focus fine tune. My focus seems to be all over the place....

Examples:

Close Range 3-4 meters. At 200 i need a +5 and at 70 i need like a -12. No big deal. I can split it and get respectable results. The problem is when I change distances. If I move to the longer end. 30-50 meters the fine tuning changes a lot. I now need upwards of +20 at 200mm and around -5 at 70.

So I am at a loss. Is there a better way to test things? Am I really stuck just picking what focal length i plan to use the lns the most and fine tune there? If thats the case I might as well buy a prime...

Really thnking of switching to Sigma for the fine tuning of multiple ranges.....
 
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rocketman122

Senior Member
you ever use a 70/80-200 before? the weight and speed may be something you need to adjust to. that 70-300 isnt on the same level.

this is with the lens on a tripod? manually focusing and it shows the focus point is off in the picture? what camera are you using?

I would not move to sigma from that tamron. I would only go nikon. either VR1 or VR2, but thats me.

fine tune only allows one focal length to adjust focus to. they need to chnage that in cameras. canon allows 2 focal points for zooms.
 
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fhibbs12

Senior Member
Sorry my post was more of a rant it so I editted it with this. Ill try to be more calm this time. I never focus fine tune first. I took this lens to a high school event to test real life results first. "IF" I notice something wrong then I fine tune. I always real life test first. It was giving me fits with focus at longer distances. This is a larger arena so we are talking 40-50 meters away sometimes.

I ended up pushing my focus fine tune up to around +15 and this gave me respectable results for the rest of the games.

When I got home I started the testing because I "felt" something was off.

Here were my methods.
I started off tripod mounted indoors in ok lighting from roughly 5 meters. I tested the extreme ends. It was weird. Now at 200 it only required +5ish. I then tested 70 and it dropped to around -10. Again these are rough numbers but really close to actuality.

Now its time to move outdoors. As I slowly increase my focus distance, the focus fine tuning also increase..... ONLY on the long end. at 5 meter 200mm it was +5ish, moving the 15ish meter its up around +10, and it pretty much caps out at +20 at infinity. This is only at the long end. at 70 it is fluctuating between -2 and -5.

So I am stumped aggrivated and irritated lol

On top of that nikon is rumored to announce lens only rebates.....

Edit: Answers to your questions. Tripod yes. Used lens of equal weight and speed yes. D600. Multiple tuning tests done and all give similar within reason results.
 
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rocketman122

Senior Member
fhibbs12 said:
Sorry my post was more of a rant it so I editted it with this. Ill try to be more calm this time. I never focus fine tune first. I took this lens to a high school event to test real life results first. "IF" I notice something wrong then I fine tune. I always real life test first. It was giving me fits with focus at longer distances. This is a larger arena so we are talking 40-50 meters away sometimes.

I ended up pushing my focus fine tune up to around +15 and this gave me respectable results for the rest of the games.

When I got home I started the testing because I "felt" something was off.

Here were my methods.
I started off tripod mounted indoors in ok lighting from roughly 5 meters. I tested the extreme ends. It was weird. Now at 200 it only required +5ish. I then tested 70 and it dropped to around -10. Again these are rough numbers but really close to actuality.

Now its time to move outdoors. As I slowly increase my focus distance, the focus fine tuning also increase..... ONLY on the long end. at 5 meter 200mm it was +5ish, moving the 15ish meter its up around +10, and it pretty much caps out at +20 at infinity. This is only at the long end. at 70 it is fluctuating between -2 and -5.

So I am stumped aggrivated and irritated lol

On top of that nikon is rumored to announce lens only rebates.....

Edit: Answers to your questions. Tripod yes. Used lens of equal weight and speed yes. D600. Multiple tuning tests done and all give similar within reason results.
Click to expand...

that may be your solution. but thats quite a jump money wise. can you send it back? you do realize resolving power of items further away is different. im sure you know. meaning close up half body/face shots of people will look so nice and detailed, then do full body shots and you wonder where all the sharness went.

your rant doesnt bother me in the least. Id be in rage if a lens this expensive was giving me fits when its new. youre supposed to enjoy a new lens not be aggravated.
 
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Mfrankfort

Senior Member
That's interesting. I've heard nothing but good things about that lens too... wonder if maybe it was a bad lens, most people love them.
 
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NVSteve

Senior Member
Any samples you can post to go along with your rant? I tried fine tuning mine also, although only at one FL. I ended up keeping it at zero because of no discernible difference. What I did find is that it is a tad soft at f2.8, but not soft enough to be a deal breaker for me. In your original post, you mentioned VC. You then mentioned shooting a high school event, but did not mention if you were shooting with VC on or off. Just checking to see if this can be chalked up to shooting on a tripod with VC on, which could explain all the AF problems you are having.
 
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rocketman122

Senior Member
Mfrankfort said:
That's interesting. I've heard nothing but good things about that lens too... wonder if maybe it was a bad lens, most people love them.
Click to expand...

matt grainger tested vs the nikon VR2 and canon IS2 and it was on the same level (even though hes a brand snob, like kai from digitalrev who hates sigma, no matter what)and it had the best stabilizer of the 3. and in the 200mm test it bettered the canon IS2. me? Id call them up and be pissed. Id demand they take the lens back, and shipping to them and back to me with a new lens, on them. stores should keep their clients happy. the power of internet and cial media can kill reputations for these companies. depends how long you have it though. 1weeks to ten days, yes, more than that, no. shouldnt take more than 1 week to test a lens and see if it has QC issues.
 
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fhibbs12

Senior Member
Ill have samples tonight.Handheld at the event with VR on though cuz I was floating between 1/100 - 1/400.I think I am settled in on +9 and it is being a happy medium. Ill know more tonight. Neighbor asked me to shoot her Junior high basketball game. It will give me a good chance to test both ends of the spectrum.
 
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NVSteve

Senior Member
I'd turn off VR completely and bump the shutter speed, along with ISO. It sounds like you are trying to capture movement, and that just isn't going to happen with VR on. When you shoot the basketball game, just shoot it wide open with VR off.
 
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fhibbs12

Senior Member
Ok I just 2 slow paced junior high girls basketball games. Pics are incoming shortly once I get my little ones to bed but I want to ask questions while they are on my mind.

Camera settings were
F2.8
Iso 3200
Shutter 1/400
Croft handheld

Focus was fast but images were soft, very but usable. So I lowered the SS to about 150-200 and dropped the iso to 12-1600. Same soft images.

So I looked in my bag and grabbed my slow to focus trusty old 85 1.8g

This is what surprised me. I was able to shoot at 2.8 1000-1250 iso at 400 ss. It was over a full stop better in exposure. Pictures were also tack sharp.

is this common?
 
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fhibbs12

Senior Member
I also think I am being overly critical on the iq.... I am coming from sigma 35 art and nikon 1.8 g lenses . When I should be critiquing it against my tamron 70 to 300 lol
 
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NVSteve

Senior Member
fhibbs12 said:
Ok I just 2 slow paced junior high girls basketball games. Pics are incoming shortly once I get my little ones to bed but I want to ask questions while they are on my mind.Camera settings wereF2.8Iso 3200Shutter 1/400Croft handheldFocus was fast but images were soft, very but usable. So I lowered the SS to about 150-200 and dropped the iso to 12-1600. Same soft images.So I looked in my bag and grabbed my slow to focus trusty old 85 1.8gThis is what surprised me. I was able to shoot at 2.8 1000-1250 iso at 400 ss. It was over a full stop better in exposure. Pictures were also tack sharp.is this common?
Click to expand...
VC on or off? Were you shooting the Tamron at 85mm? I only ask because you mentioned popping on your 85 1.8. Waiting for those pictures...
 
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fhibbs12

Senior Member
Yes in the gym. The Tamron was same settings as Nikon with VC turned off. I really think the gym lights were messing with this lens. it didnt seem to do to bad just now when i went out to shoot some samples.
 
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fhibbs12

Senior Member
These are nothing special just random shots cropped at 1 to 1 the nikon is on left and tamron on the right. both at 2.8 so essentially the nikon should be sharper.....

sample2.jpg
This is 85 mm, 2.8, iso 100, shutter 1/2000th at 4 meters away

Sample3.jpg
Same settings but at 1/1600 at 40 meters

Untitled.jpg
Same again but at 1/4000th at 20 meters

It actually looks better than I origianlly thought. All my testing thus far has been indoors in flourescent lighting. I think thats the issues. Its been too cold recently to get outside.
 
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